Pennsylvania Game News - August 2019 - 19

meet the boys for a quick 11 a.m. lunch
and I sat on a couple quiet fields with
no luck that afternoon. At dark, my trip
counter said I'd climbed 58 flights of stairs
and walked about 6½ miles.
That would be the standard for the next
four days as well.
By Tuesday afternoon, word seemed
to have spread that there were no elk in
Zone 9. Locals saw Zone 9 guides leading
their hunters to Zone 1, which is open to
all elk hunters. I stayed put and hunted on.
By sundown, some disappointment
wandered into my mind. I really had
wanted to share the experience of harvesting an elk with Jerry. But it wasn't to be.
He needed to head back to school.
On Wednesday, after setting up on a
field I'd tried earlier in the week, I took
a drive southeast along Sinnemahoning
Creek's west bank.
Johnny was on the way, but hadn't yet
arrived, so I stayed low on the mountain.
I parked and walked down a road
toward a house and two camps, and there
was a 4-by-4 bull on the creek bank.
He crossed the road behind me, then I
looked to see an at least 7-by-7 bull and
a young spike wading in my direction.
I had maybe 800 pounds of bull headed
my way and all I had was a cow tag!
When Johnny arrived a short while
later, we got right to it, and covered many
miles over Wednesday and Thursday. I
saw at least six nice bucks, many does,
five or so flocks of turkeys and many other
critters, but no cow elk.
At dusk on Thursday, rumor spread
that a herd of about 14 elk crossed the
Driftwood Branch, heading west a mile
or two north of town, toward a farm.
But by the time I could hunt them,
Johnny's time with me was up.
Before he left, Johnny looked me in the
AUGUST 2019

eyes told me emphatically, "You got this!"
After dinner Thursday night, my
friends at camp - Larry, Brother Dave and
Dick - all agreed with Johnny.
Go with your gut, they advised.
I settled on a spot I had been to twice -
once scouting with Johnny and once with
another friend, B.T. They both liked the
spot a lot. It was back in, but not extremely
steep. And we'd found three massive
brush rubs, but no scat or recent tracks.
I repacked gear for a long haul with
no help.
Friday morning, Brother Dave got up
with me at 4 a.m. and I left very early.
As luck would have it, I ran into Pat
and his father at the parking area. His
Zone 9 cow tag also remained unfilled.
They would be meeting their guide on
the hilltop, below a turnip field, above
and to the west of my intended spot. We
shook hands, wished each other luck and
headed off.
Nearing a spruce windbreak, daylight
started to crack and I distinctly heard cow
elk mews. I knew I was close. Very close!
But I still was surprised when I saw a
cow elk through some big spruces - just
30 feet away. She was being followed
uphill by a huge bull and another cow,
and they spotted me and trotted away
downhill.
I rounded the spruce line and there they
were, all heading away, 14 to 15 of them
in single file.

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Pennsylvania Game News - August 2019

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